TORONTO — Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful Tim Hudak is calling on the McGuinty government to tear up wage agreements with the public sector and reach new deals designed for hard times.

In his first major speech to a business audience since announcing his leadership bid, Mr. Hudak said the government should renegotiate more affordable agreements.

The government signed agreements with public sector unions that include wage increases of 3 per cent a year over three years even as the economic downturn was looming, Mr. Hudak told the Economic Club of Canada.

"By any reasonable standard, they were rich agreements," he said. "That's simply irresponsible."

In releasing some of the economic policies in his campaign platform, Mr. Hudak said the interests of middle-class families are front and centre. He vowed to turn to the private sector to create jobs - something he says the governing Liberals have ignored.

Mr. Hudak said the government should eliminate, for one year, payroll taxes and the land transfer tax on home purchases to stimulate job creation and help middle-class families. He also said the government should freeze wages of MPPs and non-unionized employees in the public service for the duration of the recession.

Mr. Hudak, 41, was first elected as an MPP in the 1995 sweep that ushered in the Conservatives under premier Mike Harris. Many veterans of that era hope he can steer the party back to the small-c conservative policies that were a hallmark of the Common Sense revolution. His campaign has the support of Mr. Harris.

The government sought yesterday to link Mr. Hudak to the dramatic funding cuts to health care and education that were part of the Harris era.

"We respect the bargaining process," said Greg Dennis, a spokesman for Government and Consumer Services Minister Ted McMeekin. "We are not going to return to the Conservative approach of firing nurses by the thousand and firing our teachers and water inspectors."

Mr. Hudak also said he would fight the McGuinty government's plans to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax. But he would not say whether he would repeal it, in the event he wins the leadership and the Tories form the next government.

John Tory kicked off the leadership race after he stepped down from the helm in March after losing a by-election race. He is returning to the public spotlight as a talk show host on CFRB.

The Progressive Conservatives also announced that veteran MPP Bill Murdoch was returning to the caucus after sitting as an independent since September.

It will be interesting to see what the other party hopefuls think of this. This could be a wedge issue between Elliott and Hudak.

it will also be interesting to see what the public thinks as these public sector unions are driving the province into debt with all these expensive contracts and wage increases even during a recession .

"Come to work, or never come back" Was the jist of what he said, the exact quote is nicer.

Still it brings many tears to my eyes seeing them get their well deserved by him.

Or we could always draft them into Military Service, like Truman tried to do.

There needs to be a constitutional amendment, prohibiting public employees and public contractors from unionizing, as well as right to work statutes, making sure that we as people are protected from unions.

Is he promising to `tear up` the union contracts, or does he just want to freeze wages? The article isn`t really clear.

If he`s talking about freezing wages, that`s sensible and other candidates have also proposed this I believe.

if however he`s talking about tearing up union contracts that`s not a good idea. Any Conservative government will be treated hostilely by the unions, but doing this would cause an all out labour war. Mike Harris didn`t even go this far because the results would devastate the economy.

"Come to work, or never come back" Was the jist of what he said, the exact quote is nicer.

Still it brings many tears to my eyes seeing them get their well deserved by him.

Or we could always draft them into Military Service, like Truman tried to do.

There needs to be a constitutional amendment, prohibiting public employees and public contractors from unionizing, as well as right to work statutes, making sure that we as people are protected from unions.

"Come to work, or never come back" Was the jist of what he said, the exact quote is nicer.

.

That is an interesting idea. Harris was able to win a tight 3 way race in large part because he used welfare rates as an election issue.

I don't think it would work here however, for a number of reasons.
The first is that there is not the same sort of hostility towards the public service as there was to welfare recepients.
Second of all, welfare recepients could not fight back the same way the civil service can. Parents panic over a grade school strike....nobody would even notice a welfare strike.
Finally, welfare receipients didn't vote for us and were concentrated in seats we did not have much of a chance of winning. Civil servants do vote for us and do live in ridings we can win.

There's a point there, in that conservatives should resist the tendency to paint all civl servants with a broad brush. Just because someone is a government employee, it does not follow that they are opposed to conservative (or even libertatian!) ideals.

On the other hand, it would also be a mistake to assume that conservative civil servants would react to getting tough with gov't unions by fleeing to the left - I think people might be suprised just how weak support for unions is among some rank-and-file members. I make no secret about the fact that I'm in a union against my will, and I'm not alone. A government with a back-bone might be all the incentive a few workers need to start crossing picket lines.

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